A process for preserving hams and picnics

ABSTRACT

A process for preserving hams and picnics, wherein brine is injected into hams or picnics in the deboned or non-deboned state. After the brine injection the hams or picnics are placed in a container and subjected therein to a continuous or intermittent agitating movement. Finally they are canned in pickled and deboned condition.

United States Patent [191 Michels et al.

[ Nov. 27, 1973 PROCESS FOR PRESERVING HAMS AND PICNICS [75] Inventors:Paill W. Michels, Plasmolen-Mook; Arnold Heun, Oosterbeek, both ofNetherlands [73] Assignee: Homburg N.V., Cuyk, Netherlands [22] Filed:June 20, 1969 [21] Appl. No.: 835,235

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data June 28, 1968 Netherlands 6809250[52] US. Cl. 426/281, 426/392 [51] Int. Cl. A23b 1/00, A23b 1/02 [58]Field of Search 99/159, 187, 254,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,076,713 2/1963 Maas 99/159X Primary Examiner-Hyman Lord Attorney-Browdy and Neimark [5 7 ABSTRACT11 Claims, No Drawings PROCESS FOR PRESERVING HAMS AND PICNICS Thisinvention relates to a process for preserving barns and pork shoulders(hereinafter called picnics), wherein brine is injected into the hams orpicnics which may have been deboned already or are deboned thereafter,and the hams or picnics are canned indeboned and pickled condition andto hams and picnics so processed.

Many processes of the above class have been de scribed inpatentliterature, and all of these have in common that they show thedisadvantage that an ex cess of brine is used which is removed again ina later stage of the process. This also removes some meat protein fromthe product which at that time is not yet completely germ-free,becauseit is extracted into the brine solution. Accordingly,'the re-use of thissolution is not entirely safe. More specifically, the following patentsmay be mentioned in this respect:

German Pat. No. 667,930. According to this patent the meat iscentrifuged after injection of the brine, and the liquid pressed out ofthe meat in this operation, and containing a low salt content, isreplenished and reused. It shouldbe mentioned in this respect that forthe centrifuging treatment the pieces of meator the like have to bepacked in nettings or similar enclosures, which is a rather cumbersomelabour. In practice this process has not found acceptance; German Pat.No. 941,949 which will be discussed hereinafter calls'the success of theabove; process is questionable.

This GermanPat. No. 941,949 also seeks a solution to the problem ofremoving again the excess of brine used in the injection treatment, andsimultaneously arriving at a thorough distribution of the brinethroughout the meat. To this end it is proposed to expose the meat to asubatmosphericpressure in a vacuum kettle after the injection of thebrine, whilstunder the influence of the air of the atmosphere, a movablebottom is pressed against it. This process has been tried in practice bythe present inventors, but it did not yield a well pickled product,whilst moreover the loading and unloading of the vacuum kettle is'ratherlabor-consuming again.

A 'similar vacuum treatment is proposed in German Pat. No 816344,according to which, however, the meat is not pressed with a movablebottom, but is kept in constant movement.

Still another variation is found in German Pat. No. 935,763. This patentproposes to subject-the meat first to the injection treatment, and toplace it then in a bath of brine. In this bath it is exposed to acousticvibrations. It will be clear that in this process the meat is exposed toosmotic and bacteriological actions which are diff cult to control.

paratus, wherein meatwhich has previously been injected with brine canbe'treated in order todistribute the brine throughout the meat and topress out the excess of brine.

In actual practice methods are .used which are related to some of theprocesses discussed 'hereinabove. These can be summarized as follows:

la. Hams and picnics are treated with a brine of usual composition byinjection into the vein and/or directly into the meat, stored in a brineof usual composition for one or more days, and then stored without brineat a low temperature, e.g. 48C, for one or more days; thereafter thehams or picnics are deboned and cut, packed in cans and madenon-perishable to a greater or lesser degree by heating. lb. Hams andpicnics are processed as in la, but before canning they are placed oneor more times in a container which is brought into a rotatingcentrifugal movement. 2a. Hams and picnics are deboned and cut, and thenbrine is injected with a brine injector into the meat, which optionallyhas been provided with a permeable enclosure (e.g. nettings);thereafter, the product may or may not be stored in brine, for examplefor 1 day (or shorter or longer), and then the product is canned andmade non-perishable for a shorter or longer time by heating. 2b. Harrisand picnics are processed as in 2a, but before canning they are placedone or more times into a container which is brought into a rotatingcentrifugal movement.

The advantage of method lb over la and of method 2b over 2a is that itdecreases the quantity of separated moisture, called yield", when theham or picnic is heated in a can or the like, whilst all properties of aso processed ham or picnic are improved. All abovementioned methodshave, however, the common disadvantage that they are cumbersome, andrequire many processing stages and much time. Moreover, the propertiesof the hams or picnics obtained according to all the above-describedmethods, e.g. the already mentioned yield, as well as the firmness andthe desired suiting of the shape to that of the can, are notsatisfactory in all respects. Furthermore, also these methods which areused in actual practice show the drawback that an excess of brine isinjected which during the aftertreatment leaves the meat again andcarries along meat protein.

An object of this invention is to provide a process for preserving hamsand picnics which substantially overcomes the above disadvantages anddrawbacks, and yields improved products having desirable properties.

A further object is to provide the above improvements with a processwhich is much simpler than the processes used up till now in actualpractice.

Other objects, features and advantages of this invention will becomeapparent from the following description.

Surprisingly, it has now been found that hams and picnics of outstandingproperties are obtained, if one uses a modification of the knownprocesses, and that thereby the pickling process can be controlled sowell that during the aftertreatment no or substantially no solution isremoved from the meat anymore.

This invention provides a process for preserving hams and picnics,comprising injecting brine into the hams or picnics, which may have beendeboned previously, and canning them in deboned and pickled state, saidprocess being characterized by the fact that after the brine injectionand before the canning, a plurality of the injected hams or picnics arestored in a container, and subjected therein to a continuous orintermitting stirring movement at atmospheric pressure.

The stirring, which can be carried out with a conventional stirringdevice or the like, need not be continuous, but can also beintermittent, as mentioned already, and in that case it can be carriedout at regular or irregular time intervals. The time of this stirringtreatment can be restricted to 24 hours. This means that about 24 hoursafter the injection of the brine, a ham or picnic can be canned already,as a result of the process according to the present invention.

According to one embodiment the hams and picnics are first deboned andcut; then brine is injected with a brine injector, and subsequently thehams or picnics are placed in a container, containing no brine, whereinthey are moved with a turning stirring device until the hams are curedand pliable for cans. According to another embodiment the hams orpicnics are first treated with brine by injection into a vein,thereafter deboned and cut, and then placed into a container, andsubjected to the abovementioned treatment.

Compared with the known methods, as discussed sub la, lb, 2a and 2b, thepresent process shows several advantages:

a. The ham or picnic prepared according to the present process shows alower yield or exudation, and the pliability of the ham or picnic suitsitself better to assuming the shape of the can. Thus, hams or picnicswhich are packed in square cans also assume a square shape adapted tothe can. This means that when slices are cut from a ham or picnicprepared according to the present process, almost all slices will assumethe desired square shape. This is of particular importance, because avery large part of the hams and picnics packed in square cans is cutinto slices.

b. The so prepared ham or picnic has a better firmness; each slice perse shows an improved cohesion, and disintegrates to a lesser extent. Theslices are more compact and firm.

c. The number of processing stages decreases by 20 to 33 percent.

(1. The overall processing room which is necessary has becomeconsiderably smaller, because the room, wherein the hams or picnics aretemporarily stored without brine is now also used as processingdepartment.

e. The conveyance of raw materials has decreased considerably.

f. The total investments in machines and conveyance equipment is lower.

g. The dwelling time in the plant decreases so that the money loss dueto stockpiling is decreased.

h. The uniformity of the final product is improved and the quality ismore constant.

i. The use of brine decreases by about percent.

j. Because in the process of the invention substantially no brine islost from the treated hams and picnics by dripping out or the like,which bn'ne also contains a small part of the valuable meat protein,more protein is present in the hams and picnics processed according tothis invention.

The following example is for the purpose of illustrating the process ofthis invention, it being understood that the invention is not restrictedto materials and conditions used in said example. EXAMPLE 600 kg ofdeboned and cut hams or picnics are in- 5 jected with percent of brinewith the aid of a brine injector. Thereafter, they are placed into acontainer having a length and width of 95 cm each and a height of cm. Inthis container they are stirred for 5 minutes per hour with the aid of astirring device of such a construction that the entire contents of thecontainer can be moved.

After about 24 hours the hams or picnics are quite pliable and are thenremoved from the container, canned and further processed in the usualway.

What I claim is:

1. A process for preserving hams or picnics consisting of the steps of(a) injecting substantially the required amount of brine for picklinginto the hams or picnics (b) storing a plurality of the hams or picnicsafter said injection in a container without additional brine and atatmospheric pressure, and at the same time subjecting them therein to anat least intermittent stirring movement of 5-60 minutes for each hour ofstoring until pickled and pliable and (c) canning the so treated hams.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein said movement in step b iscontinuous.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein said movement in step b isintermittent.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein the storing is for approximately 24hours.

5. The process of claim 3, wherein the stirring is for approximately 5minutes of each hour of storing.

6. The process of claim 5, wherein the storing is for approximately 24hours.

7. A process for preserving hams according to claim 1, wherein the hamsare deboned after step a and before step b.

8. The process of claim 1, wherein the hams or picnics are debonedbefore step a.

9. The process of claim 8, wherein the stirring is intermittent.

10. The process of claim 9, wherein the stirring is for approximately 5minutes of each hour of storing and the storing is for approximately 24hours.

11. A process for treating a ham or picnic, consisting of the steps ofa. injecting substantially the required amount of brine, on the order ofabout 15 percent, into said ham or picnic;

b. placing said brine injected ham or picnic into a container withoutadditional brine and at atmosphen'c pressure, and pickling said ham orpicnic for a period on the order of about 24 hours while simultaneouslystirring for approximately 5 60 minutes for each hour of pickling; and

c. removing said brine injected ham or picnic from said container afterit has become pickled and pliable, and canning the so treated ham orpicnic.

1. A process for preserving hams or picnics consisting of the steps of(a) injecting substantially the required amount of brine for picklinginto the hams or picnics (b) storing a plurality of the hams or picnicsafter said injection in a container without additional brine and atatmospheric pressure, and at the same time subjecting them therein to anat least intermittent stirring movement of 5-60 minutes for each hour ofstoring until pickled and pliable and (c) canning the so treated hams.2. The process of claim 1, wherein said movement in step b iscontinuous.
 3. The process of claim 1, wherein said movement in step bis intermittent.
 4. The process of claim 1, wherein the storing is forapproximately 24 hours.
 5. The process of claim 3, wherein the stirringis for approximately 5 miNutes of each hour of storing.
 6. The processof claim 5, wherein the storing is for approximately 24 hours.
 7. Aprocess for preserving hams according to claim 1, wherein the hams aredeboned after step a and before step b.
 8. The process of claim 1,wherein the hams or picnics are deboned before step a.
 9. The process ofclaim 8, wherein the stirring is intermittent.
 10. The process of claim9, wherein the stirring is for approximately 5 minutes of each hour ofstoring and the storing is for approximately 24 hours.
 11. A process fortreating a ham or picnic, consisting of the steps of a. injectingsubstantially the required amount of brine, on the order of about 15percent, into said ham or picnic; b. placing said brine injected ham orpicnic into a container without additional brine and at atmosphericpressure, and pickling said ham or picnic for a period on the order ofabout 24 hours while simultaneously stirring for approximately 5 - 60minutes for each hour of pickling; and c. removing said brine injectedham or picnic from said container after it has become pickled andpliable, and canning the so treated ham or picnic.